Markets typically do not like uncertainty and as this is all taking place against the backdrop of Brexit, it might have been expected that the pound would fall. However, the attacks on her decision continued hours later tin the Commons. Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced Tuesday a snap general election to b.

The former interior minister, who became prime minister without an election when her predecessor David Cameron quit after last year's referendum vote for Brexit, enjoys a runaway lead over the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls.

She said: "I have concluded the only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead is to hold this election".

Prime Minister May's refusal may be seen by some "a bit chicken", BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan said. "A prime minister who can not be trusted".

Ms May also rejected claims that MPs and peers opposed to her plans for Brexit were "saboteurs" seeking to frustrate the will of the people. The Lib Dems have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill.

Before heading to Parliament, May told the BBC that she reversed her pledge to "strengthen our hand in negotiation with the European Union".

A United Kingdom general election will be held on 8 June after MPs backed Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap poll.

This will be the backdrop upon which Brexit talks begin, as the clock on the two-year deadline for negotiations began ticking on March 29, when May officially filed divorce papers to Brussels.

Earlier, May said holding an election in June, rather than as scheduled in 2020, would "deliver a more secure future for our country" as it negotiates its departure from the EU.

A senior European Parliament lawmaker says he hopes that British Prime Minister Theresa May, if strengthened by an election, will show readiness to compromise in Brexit talks.

"I don't think other parties will refuse to take part in debates, and I wonder whether Number 10 will stick with that, because it may look a bit odd if other parties are facing audiences and making their case", he said.

Her spreadsheet is based on Britain'sFirst Past The Post system - whereby only two parties are likely to stand a chance of winning a particular seat. Some pollsters suggest that it could jump significantly with the upcoming election.

May will ask the House of Commons to vote on the snap election on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister has called for a poll, which must now be agreed by Parliament, for 8 June.

"And a month ago she told her official spokesman to rule out an early election and that wasn't true either, was it?"

Instead they urged colleagues to abstain, thereby forcing May to call a potentially embarrassing vote of no confidence in her own government - another way she can force an early vote under the terms of the FTPA. But she has not threatened to veto another referendum.

"May heads for election landslide", read The Times' front page on Wednesday. The news broke in the London's Evening Standard newspaper, where Osborne is about to take on a new job as the paper's editor.

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